Cybercrime is an ever-present threat to modern businesses. In today’s business world, Internet browsing and email are basic tools that employees of companies like yours use for communication and other tasks on a daily basis. It’s simple, it’s easy, and it’s effective, but it’s also the main source of malware and spam that could threaten your business.

There are many steps a small business owner like yourself can take to secure their business’ IT. You can start the process of developing your IT security simply by adopting effective and basic practices. Keep the following in mind when using your work computer:

Learn To Recognize Hacking Schemes: Phishing – a hacking method in which cybercriminals send emails purporting to be from a reputable source in order to get personal information, such as passwords, identification credentials and more from unsuspecting victims – is a common and dangerous style of cybercrime these days. Ensure that you and your staff know to never give out personal information through email.

Keep Link Clicking to a Minimum: Clicking on links that appear in random emails just isn’t safe. Hyperlinks are commonly used to lead unsuspecting employees to phishing and malware websites. Be sure to only click links when they are from a confirmed, expected source, and when they aren’t part of a sales pitch, or an attempt to get information from you.

Never Give Out Private Information: There is simply NO legitimate reason why anyone would require your personal password, name, address, financial info, etc. Systems and processes are in place to ensure that your password is only necessary to you, so don’t give this or any other information out under any circumstances.

Optimize Your Email Settings: By turning off your Preview Plane, and Email Images, you remove the danger of viewing a spam email or image within a spam email.

Be Skeptical of Downloads: Whether it’s an attachment from a suspicious email or a specific media player that you need to watch something online, it’s extremely important to think twice about what you download onto company computers, as they are themost common source of malware and other digital threats. As with all matters of IT security: if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Use The Right Protective Software: Employing reliable antivirus, anti-malware and content filtering solutions is a great way to protect against digital threats. Malware can come from websites and email messages, so by quickly scanning for any threats, you can ensure that you’re not endangering the business.

Stay Up To Date: It’s important to keep your browser and other programs up to date with any security patches that they offer. While it can be frustrating to sit through an update process once a week, it will go a long way to protect you from known vulnerabilities that hackers will otherwise try to exploit.

Reach out to our team to find out more about the most effective IT security practices that can help you keep your business much safer. Contact Tier One Technology Partners and our IT security professionals at info@tieroneit.com or (443) 589-1150 today.

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